Improvement in under-garments



P. H. LEE.

UNDE'RGARMEN'T.

Patented. July 11, 1876.

N.'179,ee1.

N4 PETERS. FHDTO-LIT HOGRAFMER. WASHINGTON. D. C. E'

Uitrrm) STATES PATENT OFFI PHIL() H. LEE, OF BINGHAMTON, NEW YORK.

IMPRovEMENT lN UNDER-GARMENTS.

` Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. [79,661, dated July 11, 1876; application tiled January 6, i876.

To all 'whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, PHILO'H LEE, of the city of Binghamton, county of Broome, and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Under'Gal-ments; and that the following is a full and exact description thereof. n

My invention relates tol luider-garments made of .completely or partially tanned skin of an animal lirmly united toa'ny more porous material suitable for clothing, and being firmly attached to the skin completely about and near to the apertures. x

The object of my invention is to obtain an under-garment, constructed mainly ot' the partially or completely tanned skin of an animal, which will protect the person ot' the wearer, or any selected part of the person,

from cold or currents of air, and at the same time afford adequate means for the passage of air outwardly through the garment, to carry out perspiration and other moisture and odors, and which shall be flexible and enduring, and not liable to shrink and warp out of shape, and which shall at once keep the person of the wearer uniformly warm and dry.

To these ends my invention consists in an under-garment whose main material is the partially or completely tanned skin of an animal, and whose subsidiary material is any fabric suitable for clothing, and being more porous 'than the principal material, the two being securely united, so that the entire thickness ot' the garment, at one or more than one desired place, sha-ll be exclusively ol' the more porous material, while the thickness of the garment at all other points shall be exclusively of such skin, or shall be partly of such skin and partly ofthe more porous material, the more porous material being' ljrmly inserted between the skin portions of the garment, and extending from end to end of the body of the garment, or`of the limb or limbs of the garment, or of both body and limbs of the garment, and my invention further consists in firmly securing to the skin portion of the garment coverings for apertures made therein, such coverings being constituted of the more porous material.

In the drawings hereof, Figure l represents drawers, constructed in accordance with my invention.

A represents pieces of skin, in this instance buckskin. B B indicate pieces of more porous material, in thisinstance cotton cloth.

In Fig. l the pieces of cotton cloth are interposed between the back and one front piece along each entire side of the main part ofthe shirt, and also between the edges ofthe piece or pieces ot' skin which constitute the main portion ot' each sleeve.

In Fig. 2 the cloth is interposed between the edges of the piece ot' skin which mainly forms each leg `of the drawers. Thus the pieces of more porous material lare interposed where the seams of luider-garments usually occur, and extend the entire length of the body of the under-garment, and, it may be, of one or more of its limbs. By this 'construction the bodies and limbs of' skin undergarments are made more yielding to the stress laid upon them by the body or limbs of the wearer when in a sitting or bending posture, or when the limbs of the person are bent. The stress ou the garment in such postures of the wearer is crosswise of its body or limbs, and nearly at right angles to its seams. In a garment entirely of skin, the thread, having to hold two thicknesses ot' bulky and unrelaxing material, is apt to break, whereupon the pieces of skin part. Furthermore, two pieces of skin overlapping each other render the garment cumbersome, rigid, and abrasive at the places where the greatest stress on the garment and compression on the person are liable to occur; also, when two pieces ot' skin overlap and are sewed together, the grain of the pieces of skin is liable to run in diferent directions, and they, therefore, strain and shrink in different directions, and, consequently, strain the sea-m, and also twist and warp the garment out of shape. The pieces of more porous material securely interposed between entire pieces of skin remove these defects from the garment.

The more porous material may be securely interposed over or under, or both over and under, apertures made in a piece or the pieces of skin, as shown at B in Fig. l, Iand at C in Fig. 2, as well as interposed laterally between an under-shirt, and Fig. 2 a pair ot' underl separate pieces of skin, as shown at B.

Inlocating the more porous material, it is advantageous that the different kinds of material should be so relatively arrangedl as respects each other and the person of' the wearer that the parts ot' the body covering vital organs, or those naturally or by reason ot' abnormal Weakness needing protection from y c old, shall be covered' by the skin, while, on

the other hand, the less sensitive parts ofthe body, or those which more freely eXude perspiration, will be4 covered by the subsidiary and more porous material ot the garment.

I mention as valuable for the more porous material any knit, woven, felted, or piled, (cut or not,) or other i'abric or cloth suitable for wearer is directly or indirectly exposed to contact with cold and With currents ot' air. Neither of these constructions touches my invention.

1. In a skin under-garment, the combination of apertures B, such as are described, with coverings for the apertures, the coverings being made of a material more porous than suoli skin, and being firmly secured to such skin, near to and completely about the several apertures, for the purpose described.

2. 111 a skin under-garment, constructed as above described and claimed, the additional apex tures B, covered by more porous material, and interposed between the skin portions throughoutthe longitudinal seams of the body or ot' the limbs of' the garment, as described and shown, whereby the person is protected from cold and abrasion, and the garment is ventilative and relieved from warping, and strain, as set forth.

G. H. PRATT, GEO. PRATT. 

